162 BIRD STUDIES WITH A CAMERA 



seemed when compared witli the fishing boats in 

 which we had at first prepared to make the voyage ! 

 Investigation below, liowever, did not seem to offer 

 prospects of undisturbed repose, and reaching Bryon 

 late in the afternoon we decided to go ashore and 

 apply to the island's owner for a night's lodging. 

 Bryon Island, with its several thousand acres of 

 stunted spruce and balsam forests, its rolling pasture 

 lands and grazing cows and sheep, its i^recipitous 

 red sandstone cliifs rising to a height of two hundred 

 feet from the sea and furnishing a home for a few 

 Murres and Puffins, is the property of one man, who 

 purchased it from the Government for a nominal 

 sum. A lobster cannery furnishes employment for 

 twoscore or more itinerant fishermen and laborers, 

 who after the lobstering season ends in July remain 

 for the mackerel fishing. When they have departed 

 the population of Bryon is reduced to about half a 

 dozen families, over whom the owner reigns su- 

 preme. 



We landed at the cannery and wended our way 

 over a path through the stunted forests, which at 

 the end of a mile or more led us to the monarch's 

 home — a small frame house adjoining large barns. 



The ruler of Bryon proved to be absent in the 

 Magdalens, but his wife made us both welcome and 

 comfortable. We recall with pleasure the night 

 passed beneath her roof, and the magnificent view 

 of the setting sun from Bryon's red cliffs. 



We awoke in the clouds, gulf clouds, which so 

 often in swift-spreading banks envelop both sea 

 and land in this region. It was ten o'clock before 

 the sun could force its way through them, and when 



